Officer brings hope to man in time of need

“I was really distraught,” he said. “I was really emotional … everything hit me at one time and that’s when I saw her.”

Luling resident Brandon Jarrow said that last week he was having an extremely hard day – a dispute with a family member coupled with some unresolved emotional issues led him to despair, and he just didn’t know where to turn for help.

“I really just wanted God to give me an answer to what to do,” he said. “I trusted God enough to know he would lead me in the right direction.”

Jarrow said God led him to Deputy Connie Patterson, a St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy.

“I was traveling south bound on I-310 when a male pulled next to me, rolled his window down and asked if he could speak with me,” Patterson said. “I instructed him to pull to the shoulder of the road, and he did.  He confided in me of the struggles he was going through in life.”

Jarrow said Patterson was exactly who he needed to talk to that day.

“She just sat there and she listened,” Jarrow said. “After that she told me hugged me and held me …. she gave me so much reassurance. I knew I would be OK after that. It’s important to remember that everybody is going through something – big or small.”

Patterson said she advised Jarrow the best she could but felt that more than advice he really needed prayer.

“We prayed together and agreed that God was in control,” Patterson said. “We hugged and then parted ways.”

Jarrow said that the interaction changed his day, and that it’s important to believe in the inherent goodness of people.

“The only thing the media is posting about is when a white cop kills someone who is black,” he said. “The media is pushing that out there and it is causing so much hate. Too many cops are getting killed and too many civilians are getting killed … everybody just needs to respect everybody.”

As for Patterson, she believes meeting Jarrow was a divine appointment.

“Coincidences don’t just happen, God does,” she said. “I believe that it was God’s plan for our paths to cross, because I needed that moment just as much as he did. I ask that every God believing person, regardless of faith, please say a prayer for Mr. Jarrow because God has big plans for him.”